I remember someone, I think MoonDude talking about using Bachelor groups of younger bucks in early season or states with Sept openers as a way to string the big boys along and possibly get a shot. General idea is: the younger bucks venture out more and the mature buck follows due to curiosity even though normally he would avoid coming out that far, but in this case the presence of other bucks lures him as he thinks it's safe.
Has anyone ever observed this or had experience with this phenomenon?
Using Bachelor groups
- comeback_kid
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- ghoasthunter
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Re: Using Bachelor groups
I run 95% of cameras during summer months and biggest problem i see is the bigger bucks tend to start to split off from younger bucks buy mid august. you still can find some 3.5 year olds running together but it always seams buy September the bucks tend to hang with there same age classes or just go on there own as soon as velvet sheds. this is just my area so i cant say for every part of the country. i just target the bigger better bedding thats about it. but it can and has worked late season that way a couple times for me.comeback_kid wrote:I remember someone, I think MoonDude talking about using Bachelor groups of younger bucks in early season or states with Sept openers as a way to string the big boys along and possibly get a shot. General idea is: the younger bucks venture out more and the mature buck follows due to curiosity even though normally he would avoid coming out that far, but in this case the presence of other bucks lures him as he thinks it's safe.
Has anyone ever observed this or had experience with this phenomenon?
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- ghoasthunter
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Re: Using Bachelor groups
ghoasthunter wrote:I run 95% of cameras during summer months and biggest problem i see is the bigger bucks tend to start to split off from younger bucks buy mid august. you still can find some 3.5 year olds running together but it always seams buy September the bucks tend to hang with there same age classes or just go on there own as soon as velvet sheds. this is just my area so i cant say for every part of the country. i just target the bigger better bedding thats about it. but it can and has worked late season that way a couple times for me.comeback_kid wrote:I remember someone, I think MoonDude talking about using Bachelor groups of younger bucks in early season or states with Sept openers as a way to string the big boys along and possibly get a shot. General idea is: the younger bucks venture out more and the mature buck follows due to curiosity even though normally he would avoid coming out that far, but in this case the presence of other bucks lures him as he thinks it's safe.
Has anyone ever observed this or had experience with this phenomenon?
o left out this group of bucks started traveling together around Christmas and are still together right now.
THE MOST IMPORTANT TOOL A HUNTER HAS IS BETWEEN HIS SHOULDERS
- comeback_kid
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Re: Using Bachelor groups
ghoasthunter wrote:ghoasthunter wrote:I run 95% of cameras during summer months and biggest problem i see is the bigger bucks tend to start to split off from younger bucks buy mid august. you still can find some 3.5 year olds running together but it always seams buy September the bucks tend to hang with there same age classes or just go on there own as soon as velvet sheds. this is just my area so i cant say for every part of the country. i just target the bigger better bedding thats about it. but it can and has worked late season that way a couple times for me.comeback_kid wrote:I remember someone, I think MoonDude talking about using Bachelor groups of younger bucks in early season or states with Sept openers as a way to string the big boys along and possibly get a shot. General idea is: the younger bucks venture out more and the mature buck follows due to curiosity even though normally he would avoid coming out that far, but in this case the presence of other bucks lures him as he thinks it's safe.
Has anyone ever observed this or had experience with this phenomenon?
o left out this group of bucks started traveling together around Christmas and are still together right now.
Yeah, I have heard that the bachelor groups break apart, but looking back at my logs I had a group of 5-6 bucks still together on Sept 21st two years ago. It was crazy to see them as they piled out of this finger of woods one after another headed toward my stand. I noticed how the real young dumb ones actually kept the older ones around b/c the young ones didn't get shot so the older one were more on the periphery and were curious as to what was going on.
- bowfreak8
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Re: Using Bachelor groups
In my Area the mature bucks always break away from the younger bucks well before the season opens. It's not uncommon for me to see young bucks never break apart all year.
- Tradstalk777
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Re: Using Bachelor groups
What I've seen over the years is the biggest oldest bucks in the group are the first to break away from the group. At a minimum they go nocturnal first. Pretty much right after velvet they start disappearing on my scouting trips. Unfortunately my best field comes out of non huntable private so I can't kill them close to a bed. It's still a blast to see them in summer though
- ghoasthunter
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Re: Using Bachelor groups
comeback_kid wrote:ghoasthunter wrote:ghoasthunter wrote:I run 95% of cameras during summer months and biggest problem i see is the bigger bucks tend to start to split off from younger bucks buy mid august. you still can find some 3.5 year olds running together but it always seams buy September the bucks tend to hang with there same age classes or just go on there own as soon as velvet sheds. this is just my area so i cant say for every part of the country. i just target the bigger better bedding thats about it. but it can and has worked late season that way a couple times for me.comeback_kid wrote:I remember someone, I think MoonDude talking about using Bachelor groups of younger bucks in early season or states with Sept openers as a way to string the big boys along and possibly get a shot. General idea is: the younger bucks venture out more and the mature buck follows due to curiosity even though normally he would avoid coming out that far, but in this case the presence of other bucks lures him as he thinks it's safe.
Has anyone ever observed this or had experience with this phenomenon?
o left out this group of bucks started traveling together around Christmas and are still together right now.
Yeah, I have heard that the bachelor groups break apart, but looking back at my logs I had a group of 5-6 bucks still together on Sept 21st two years ago. It was crazy to see them as they piled out of this finger of woods one after another headed toward my stand. I noticed how the real young dumb ones actually kept the older ones around b/c the young ones didn't get shot so the older one were more on the periphery and were curious as to what was going on.
i can agree with you because i have seen it myself its just not a real consistent pattern. but it makes sense and can work. I killed a nice 5.5 year old ten point couple years back in late season that way. i watched this buck grow from when he was a 2.5 and every winter he would yard up with the same 8 point and a big old doe. I killed that buck carefully following those two deer about a hundred yards behind them. the group was working there way into a bedding area on a j hook down wind of cover when i drooped the hammer on him from 100 yards out. and 2 years ago i killed a big 9 following 2 mature does a hundred yards back the same way during gun season the buck was like you guys go first and if you get shot ill go some other way. the buck would literally stop and watch them cross openings in the cover then quick make a dash across if nothing happened. that group was also cutting to the down wind side of bedding. they were kicked of a ridge from a deer drive. i did have one encounter like your describing about 10 or so years ago i was on stand opening day on October 1st i had a whole herd come in past my stand prob close to a dozen bucks and every time one went buy the next one was bigger in the line but thats just about the only time its happened in 25 years of hunting. the section i was hunting was a small urban block around 25 acres so it could have been just the lack of room that made it happen. but typically in larger areas the bucks will spread unless your near some real good food sources.
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- <DK>
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Re: Using Bachelor groups
Tradstalk777 wrote:What I've seen over the years is the biggest oldest bucks in the group are the first to break away from the group. At a minimum they go nocturnal first. Pretty much right after velvet they start disappearing on my scouting trips.
x2, good post
- fireforeffect
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Re: Using Bachelor groups
As everyone else said, the mature bucks get fed up with the young bucks early and go their own way most of the time. You may be able to use this strategy in the late season though. By January they may be forced to be more sociable to take advantage of prime food sources and thermal cover.
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